Quote from: Daedalus;538374There is a mafia rpg called Crime Network by Bedrock games.  Excellent game

Thanks Daedalus. I am revising the Guide to Gangsters right now. So following this thread with interest.

It is also important to define what kind of Mafia the game portrays: the "glamourized" one (The Godfather, The Sopranos...) or the realistc one (Gomorrah).

A game inspired by Gomorrah would make for a very nihilistic experience, however.

Quote from: Reckall;538583It is also important to define what kind of Mafia the game portrays: the "glamourized" one (The Godfather, The Sopranos...) or the realistc one (Gomorrah).

A game inspired by Gomorrah would make for a very nihilistic experience, however.

There is also a big distinction between the american mafia and organized crime in italy.

Melan,

you say that as if only D&D-like fantasy games existed. I say all modern games already include yakuza, mafia etc.

As for all fantasy games: swap Wise Guys with Knights and COunts with Bosses and you are set. The Mafia IS the last surviving form of medieval feudalism (outside continental universites, that is).

@Brendan:
it is called camorra, and it is a regional variety.

Quote from: Settembrini;538593@Brendan:
it is called camorra, and it is a regional variety.

@Settembrini: the movie is called Gomorrah, and I know what the camorra is (I just wrote a book that included an overview of various Italian criminal organizations. There are several similar organinzation in Italy.

Quote from: Settembrini;538593Melan,

you say that as if only D&D-like fantasy games existed. I say all modern games already include yakuza, mafia etc.

.

This is true, but to run a mafia focused campaign it helps to have some mechanics that support many of the background elements. It is also handy to have flavor material on mafia organization written with rpgs in mind. I have done it both ways (taking a generic system like savage world or gurps and running a mafia game or paying using a mafia specific system and just prefer the later).

Well, I appreciate your work, and surely you know more about the issue than I will ever do.
All I am saying is that organized crime rules and building blocks should be plugged in to more general games. Mafia-only gaming seems to me as productive as only driving along route 66.

Route 66 does have its charms.  And anyways, I believe that Brendan's game does more than just mafia?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;539021Route 66 does have its charms.  And anyways, I believe that Brendan's game does more than just mafia?

RPGPundit

Crime Network does focus on mafia. The book tells you how to make a character within the mafia hierarchy and has things like crime skills' mafia families and a rule for knowing if a character who strays gets on the boss's hit list (as well as a racket system). But a mob associate could easily be reskinned to be  to be a motorcycle gane prospect (the book I am working on gets into that). I know of one group that did something like this for a crime network campaign set in England.

Quote from: Settembrini;538598Well, I appreciate your work, and surely you know more about the issue than I will ever do.
All I am saying is that organized crime rules and building blocks should be plugged in to more general games. Mafia-only gaming seems to me as productive as only driving along route 66.

I don't disagree. Generic games certainly bring flexibility to the table. If you buy a mafia rpg, you generally do so because you want to play a sopranos style campaign.

I like savage world a lot, but even that system, when you want something specific, works best if you pick up a genre book. For example i could run a pirates of the carribean game using SW explorer's. But i have the pirates of the spanish main sw book and that makes doing so a heck of a lot easier.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;539041I don't disagree. Generic games certainly bring flexibility to the table. If you buy a mafia rpg, you generally do so because you want to play a sopranos style campaign.

I like savage world a lot, but even that system, when you want something specific, works best if you pick up a genre book. For example i could run a pirates of the carribean game using SW explorer's. But i have the pirates of the spanish main sw book and that makes doing so a heck of a lot easier.

I don't know- the guy over at The RPG Informer is running a Modern Day Mob game using Savage Worlds (and has run it before) and seems to have no problem with it).   So there is one person who is actively running a modern day mob game.

This is the main thread about the game he is running:

http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/04/modern-day-mafia-game-using-savage-worlds/

Structure of the Mob:  http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/05/mafia-rpg-american-mafia-la-cosa-nostra-structure/

Mob Slang:  http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/06/modern-day-mafia-game-mob-slang/

Useful stuff to run a mob game

I must say, though: I find the idea of a mafia-only game/supplement much more laudable than the actual running of a mafia-only game.

Quote from: Daedalus;539067I don't know- the guy over at The RPG Informer is running a Modern Day Mob game using Savage Worlds (and has run it before) and seems to have no problem with it).   So there is one person who is actively running a modern day mob game.

This is the main thread about the game he is running:

http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/04/modern-day-mafia-game-using-savage-worlds/

Structure of the Mob:  http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/05/mafia-rpg-american-mafia-la-cosa-nostra-structure/

Mob Slang:  http://www.therpginformer.com/2012/05/06/modern-day-mafia-game-mob-slang/

Useful stuff to run a mob game

I love what he is doing. Followed this topic with interest on his blog. Savage Worlds is probably the best general system for a mafia game IMO. I did think you need to tweak some of the skills and come up with a few extra subsystems to play mafia with it though (at least to play the way I like). But i would certainly never knock savage worlds as a core system (we actually have a green light to make a savage worlds version of crime network---once some of our other projects are finished I hope to get to it). One absolutely does not need a mafia specific rpg to run that sort pf game, i just find it helps.

EDIT: I see he is also running All Flesh Must be Eaten, which is another game i relly like. So far I am digging tis rpg informer taste.will be interesting to see what kind of mafia campaign he runs.

Quote from: Settembrini;539071I must say, though: I find the idea of a mafia-only game/supplement much more laudable than the actual running of a mafia-only game.

I don't know, there has been talk on multiple message forums about these kinds of games, so there is interest in the setting and/or games

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;539073I love what he is doing. Followed this topic with interest on his blog. Savage Worlds is probably the best general system for a mafia game IMO. I did think you need to tweak some of the skills and come up with a few extra subsystems to play mafia with it though (at least to play the way I like). But i would certainly never knock savage worlds as a core system (we actually have a green light to make a savage worlds version of crime network---once some of our other projects are finished I hope to get to it). One absolutely does not need a mafia specific rpg to run that sort pf game, i just find it helps.

I agree that Savage Worlds makes a good system for doing a modern day mafia game.  What kind of suggestions would you make to tweak some of the skills

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;539073EDIT: I see he is also running All Flesh Must be Eaten, which is another game i really like. So far I am digging the rpg informer taste.will be interesting to see what kind of mafia campaign he runs.

Yeah.  Not only is he running All Flesh, but it's based on The Walking Dead world.  Though he is running the game where it takes place in another location, it's still based in the same world.